Acrylic on canvas.

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (1924–1993), a native of Iceland, was a goði, or Heathen priest. He was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion. The Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið ("Icelandic fellowship of Æsir faith"), which he founded, was officially recognised as a religious body in 1972. He lived his entire life in West Iceland. From 1944 on, he was a sheep farmer whilst also pursuing literary interests on the side. He published a book of rímur in 1945, a textbook on the verse forms of rímur in 1953, two volumes of his own verse in 1957 and 1976, and edited several anthologies.

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